KEDGE BUSINESS SCHOOL EXPERT OPINION – 12.06.2018
With experts calling for immediate and urgent action at Cop 24 in Poland, it is imperative to understand how to increase the efficiency of resource use quickly. Frank Figge, Professor of CSR and Sustainable Development at KEDGE Business School, works on this research topic and has published an analysis of longevity and circularity as indicators of eco-efficient resource use in the circular economy.
For this research, which combines approaches of longevity and circularity, Frank Figge collaborated with others KEDGE professors: Andrea Stevenson Thorpe, Philippe Givry, Louise Canning, Elizabeth Franklin-Johnson. He explains: "Key to reaching Sustainable Development is to use natural resources more efficiently. We require dramatic increases of efficiency in a very short period of time. We need to use resource longer and more often. Our study integrates these two dimensions."
Using the case of resources used in smartphones they identify different strategies to increase resource use. Frank Figge highlights: "Put simply, there are technical drivers and behavioural drivers. Our research highlights the potential of behavioural changes. The potential of low-tech behavioural solutions is surprising. There will be no Sustainable Development without changing people’s behaviour. High-tech solutions are welcome and important but they will come second.”
Frank Figge is available for any requests for interviews or reports concerning this news item in English or French.
More about Frank Figge
Frank Figge is Professor of CSR and Sustainable Development at KEDGE Business School. Prior to joining KEDGE Frank was Full Professor of CSR at Queen’s University Belfast (Northern Ireland) and the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). He completed his PhD at the University of Basle (Switzerland) in 1998. Frank’s current research focuses on the assessment and management of corporate sustainability performance, corporate sustainability strategy, paradoxical management and sustainable finance. Among others Frank has published in AMR, Organization Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of Production Economics and Ecological Economics.
